Texas flooding updates: Over 130 dead as flash flood threat increases in Texas

Kerr County was hit the hardest, with at least 106 deaths.

Over 130 people are dead from the devastating flooding in the Texas Hill Country.

Kerr County was hit the hardest, with at least 106 deaths, including 36 children. President Donald Trump signed a disaster declaration for the county and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is on the ground there.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing.


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12 states sending teams to hard-hit Kerr County

More than 2,100 responders are on the ground in Kerr County from local, state and federal agencies, Kerrville police community services officer Jonathan Lamb said.

Ten states have already sent teams to Kerr County and teams from two more states are en route, Lamb said.

The number of missing in Kerr County remains at 161, including five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic, Lamb said Thursday.

The number of fatalities in Kerr County stands at 96, including 36 children, Lamb said.


All campers survive at Camp La Junta

All campers from the all-boys Camp La Junta survived and are safe, officials from the Kerr County camp said.

"We are profoundly grateful that every boy at Camp La Junta is safe, yet our hearts are heavy," camp owners and directors Scott and Katie Fineske said in a statement. "We grieve with the families of the Camp Mystic girls and with everyone affected by this tragedy, including our dear friends, Dick Eastland and Jane Ragsdale."

Ragsdale, the director of the Heart O' the Hills Camp for Girls, and Eastland, the longtime director of Camp Mystic, both died in the floods.

When the floodwaters crossed the camp's main field Friday morning, "our team moved cabin-by-cabin to higher ground and confirmed, through repeated headcounts, that every camper and staff member was accounted for," the Fineskes said. "The devastating news from Camp Mystic reached us later that morning, shaking our entire community."

"Our immediate priority is to support ongoing recovery and relief efforts," they said.

-ABC News’ Olivia Osteen


Kerr County officials waited 90 minutes to send emergency alert after requested, dispatch audio shows

At 4:22 a.m. on Friday, as Texas' Hill Country began to flood, a firefighter in Ingram – just upstream from Kerrville – asked the Kerr County Sheriff's Office to alert nearby residents, according to audio obtained by ABC affiliate KSAT. But Kerr County officials took nearly six hours to heed this call.

"The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39," the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. "Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?"

"Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor," a Kerr County Sheriff's Office dispatcher replied.

The first alert didn't come through Kerr County's CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn't arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.

Read more here.

-ABC News' Maia Rosenfeld , Jared Kofsky and Laura Romero


Abbott announces next legislative session will discuss improving early warning systems

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday released the planned agenda for an upcoming special legislative session.

Four of the 18 agenda items were related to devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country.

The flood-related agenda items included legislation to improve flood warning systems, flood emergency communications, relief funding for hill country floods and natural disaster preparation & recovery.

"We delivered on historic legislation in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that will benefit Texans for generations to come," said Abbott. "There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country. We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future."

Abbott’s Special Session to take place on Monday at 12:00 p.m. CT